541 Flavors: Marché serves its way into elite company

Sunday

How great is it that Eugene, so often in the culinary shadows of Portland and other bigger West Coast cities, has served up two 2019 nominees for the so-called Oscars of the food world?

If you haven’t heard the news, Marché restaurant is one of 20 national semifinalists in the Outstanding Restaurant category of the James Beard Foundation’s 2019 Restaurant and Chef Awards.

And chef Alejandro Cruz of Novo Modern Latin Table is among 20 individual chefs, but the only one from Eugene, to be named in the regional Best Chef: Northwest division. He is just the third Eugene chef, following Belly’s Brendan Mahaney in 2012 and Marché’s Stephanie Pearl Kimmel in 2006, to be on the list.

Cruz also happens to be one of many alums of the Marché kitchen who have gone on to other food-and-drink successes near and far, not surprising given that the influential restaurant at Fifth Street Public Market celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2018.

And to tell you just how significant it is for Marché to be even a semifinalist for this JBF restaurant honor — something of a lifetime achievement award, open only to those in business 10 years or more — consider that Portland’s Higgins is the only other restaurant in Oregon to ever make the long list. And as usual, some bona fide big-city culinary institutions are on this year’s list.

“A lot of them are just legendary,” marvels Jessica MacMurray Blaine, creative director and chief operating officer of Marché Restaurant Group. “I mean, Balthazar! To be on a list with Balthazar and restaurants we admire so much like North Pond and Fore Street and Nopa … It’s sort of a stunning honor, to be honest,” she says, referring to famed eateries in Manhattan, Chicago, Portland (Maine) and San Francisco, respectively.

Marché owner and founding chef Kimmel, who went on to be a top-five finalist for a James Beard award in 2006, was on an airplane and out of communication when the foundation announced its list of semifinalists on Feb. 27.

“When we landed my phone just went crazy, dinging with all the texts of congratulations for making the list,” she writes by email. “I couldn’t believe my eyes, I was so surprised I was in tears.”

Kimmel, often credited as a pioneer of the local ingredient-driven, seasonally focused, farm-to-table style of restaurant that is almost more the rule than the exception in the industry today, notes that this recognition is especially gratifying because “it isn’t about trends. It honors longevity in our crazy business. It honors the ability to manage everything from the effects of world events and business cycles to the tiniest everyday details. It honors flexibility and perseverance and consistency as well as unwavering commitment to a vision.”

She and Blaine also are quick to credit their team, past and present, for always caring and carrying on that vision.

“This award in particular is about the cumulative effort of everybody,” Blaine says. “One of the first things we said to the staff after this list came out was ‘OK guys, the spotlight’s on.’ It’s on every day, and we care every day, but it’s now kind of an extra responsibility to care for that 20 years of work that everybody else behind you has put in every single day, every plate, every cup of coffee, every glass of wine.”

Marché’s appearance among such rarefied company — another semifinalist, San Francisco’s Quince, earned a third Michelin star not long ago — is even more impressive when you consider the scope and volume of its service. Few, if any, of the other restaurants are open all day, every day like Marché, offering breakfast, lunch and dinner, plus brunch, and a comprehensive bar program.

“That puts a lot of pressure on every service to be fantastic,” Blaine says. “Some of the restaurants are only open like three nights a week for this very precious, incredible tasting menu.”

“They run the gamut from very high-end tasting menus to coming in and getting eggs Benedict for brunch,” adds Rocky Maselli, Marché’s company chef. “The one common thing amongst all of us on that list is we open our doors and we greet guests and we seat them, we serve them delicious food, and we give them great service.”

He also notes that Marché does more than most, from butchering its own meats to catering, to baking breads and pastries. “We do everything culinary here, besides maybe making our own cheese and curing our own salami — and we’re probably adding that to the list soon.”

Beyond the more fine-dining-focused restaurant and attached Le Bar, the Marché family also includes the adjacent Provisions Market Hall and its small Blackboard bistro; the casual Market Ramen and Winner Winner pop-ups among the Fifth Street Public Market’s upstairs food-court eateries; and a café at the University of Oregon’s Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art.

It’s unclear what effect, if any, those additional factors might have on the anonymous volunteer judges across the country, who submitted nominations late last year and now are midway through voting to determine who will be the five finalists and, ultimately, the winners in 21 regional and national award categories. Finalists will be announced March 27 and winners honored at a May 6 awards gala in Chicago.

Maselli says Marché’s semifinalist status is “exciting, but it’s also kind of nerve-racking. Now I feel like by having our name on the list, and kind of announcing it to the world, we have to be just a little bit better. Maybe a lot better.”

And in a return to Oscars metaphors, Blaine says “This time of year you hear a lot, ‘It’s an honor to be nominated.’ But it’s really, seriously, a huge honor. It’s like you’ve been working on a little independent film for 20 years and then suddenly you get a best picture nomination.”

Joel Gorthy has edited and written for The Register-Guard’s Tastings and other special publications since 2003. He doesn't claim to be an authority on food and drink, but he has consumed plenty of both and is a big fan. Follow him @JGorthyRG on Instagram and Twitter; email JGorthy@registerguard.com.

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